Elijah valentine



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH VALENTINE, 0F PALMER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ABEL BRADWAY.

SHINGLE-MACI-IINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,983, dated August 30, 1853.

To @Z6 whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ELIJAH VALnN'riNE, of Palmer, in the county ofHampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and ImprovedMachine for Shaping and Dressing Shingles; and I do hereby de- Clarethat the following is a full and eX- act description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which Figure 1, is a top view, and Fig. 2, a verticallongitudinal section through the center of the machine.

Similar letters refer to corresponding parts in both figures.

The oblong frame A, of my machine, may be constructed in any well-knownor'usual manner.

E, E, are ways secured to the side beams of the frame; which ways,support and guide the reciprocating driver B, and the shingle 'patternsIIT, IV, that are formed on projections from the forward corners of thesaid driver. An elastic platform C, is secured to the cross-pieces S, S,of the supporting frame, in such apesition that when the driver is drawnback, the forward port-ion of the said platform will be forced up beitween the shingle patterns IV, IV, as shown in Fig. 2. Immediately abovethe said vplatform C, there is placed a series of metaL lic rollers D;the journals of which play freely in inclined slots in the supports J,J, which are capped by the plates m, m. The peripheries of the saidrollers, and the upper surface of the said elastic platform, are usuallygrooved, as shown in the drawings. I generally place an inclined coverN, over the rollers D, D, &c.; which cover rests upon the transversemouth pieces b, and T, as shown in Fig. 2. Catches c, c, are jointed tothe forward mouth piece T, in such a manner that they will swing freelyforward to allow a rived shingle to pass into the machine, but will notallow it to pass rearward again.

The shaving knives F, F, are placed on the extremities of the elasticarms Gr, Gr, which presses them against the shingle patj terns W, I,with such a degree of elastic force, as to cause them to closely adhereto every vportion of the said patterns, as they are reciprocated backand forth. The elastic arms G, G, are secured to the blocks H',

which are connected to each other by theV transverse piece H, and aresecured to the side beams of the supporting frame.

The rear end of the platform C, extends rearward a suiiicient distanceto pass under the driver, when it is drawn backward to its fullestextent, and consequently, the upward movement of this end of the saidplatform, is limited by the under side of the driver. The platform C,may be forced upward by means of spiral springs c, c, and guided in itsmovements by pins j", f,as shown in Fig. 2,-or by any other suitablemeans.

A reciprocating movement is imparted to the driver B, by means of thedriving shaft P, and the pit-man O,-or by any other method. A Hutterwheel I, is located beneath, and a little in the rear of the pair ofshaving knives F, F, and is rotated by means of a band passing from apulley on its arbor to a pulley upon the main shaft P. The object of thesaid flutter wheel being to separate the finished shingles as they comefrom the machine, from the shavings. The effect of the said wheel beingto throw the shingles some considerable distance from the machine, whilethe shavings will fall immediately below the knives.

Ledges 7c, 7c, rise from the sides of the driver B, which have inclinedplanes formed at their forward ends. I/Vhen the driver B, passesforward, these ledges pass under the arbors of the rollers D, D, andelevate them in the slots Z, Z, causing the rollers to rest upon thesaid ledges during a portion of their forward and backward movements. Arecess CZ, is formed in the upper side of the driver, into which therived shingles are placed to be carried forward into the machine.

The operation of my improved machine for shaping and dressing shingles,is as follows: I generally place a quantity of rived, or split, shinglesupon the inclined cover N, over the rollers D, and then when the driver(B) is drawn back to its fullest eX tent, a shingle is placed in therecess d, in its upper surface, and is carried forward therein past themouth piece T, and under the series of rollers D; when the driver passesbackward, the catches a, a, arrest the shingle, and cause it to fallupon the platform C; and as the ledges 7c, 7c, pass from under thearbors of the rollers D, D, they all in succession fall upon the saidshingle and eXert suiiicient force to flatten it, in case it should bewarped, and cause it to pass freely under the after mouth piece Zi, tobe operated upon by the knives during the neXt return movement of thedriver. As soon as the driver is brought back again toits fullestextent, another rived shingle is placed in the recess d, and as this iscarried forward under the forward mouth piece T, and the series ofrollers D, the front end of the driver strikes against the end of theshingle first carried into the machine, and forces it under the aftermouth piece b, in contact with the knives F, F; which knives as theyapproach each other (in consequence of the forward movement of theshingle patterns W, W,) impart the proper taper toA the shingle, andgive to it perfectly smooth surfaces. In Jthis manner is the operationcontinued,-a rived shingle can be fed into the machine, and a finishedshingle discharged therefrom at each forward movement of the driver.

In case the rived shingle should not be as thick as the requiredthickness of the butt end of the shingle, the upward pressure Aof theplatform C, will insure a perfectly smooth and finished surface to the.upper side of the shingle. And should the rived shingle be considerablythicker than the required thickness of the butt end of the shingle theplatform C, will be forced down by the weight of the rollers D, D, andthereby prevent the injury to the machine which would otherwise becaused by the' shingles being brought in contact with the after mouthpiece If deemed expedient, a feeding boX may be combined with themachine for the reception of the rived shingles to be shaped anddressed, instead of feeding them in singly by hand.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The series of rollers D, D, &c., placed above the platform G, when theyare combined with the ledges la, 7c, which rise from the sides of thatportion of the platform that receives the rived shingles to be operatedupon, and so arranged that when a rived shingle is first carriedforward, the said rollers will be elevated above its upper surface bythe said ledges, and when the driver is drawn back, it will at the sametime pass from under the said shingle and from under therollers,-thereby allowing the shingle to fall upon the platform C, andthe rollers to fall in succession upon the upper surface of the shingle,for the purpose of giving to the said shingle such a shape and positionupon the platform, that it will be carried onward again by the nextforward movement of the driver and be operated upon by the dressingknives, substantially as herein set forth.

The above specification of my improved shingle machine signed andwitnessed this 14th day of October i852.

ELIJAH VALENTINE.

Witnesses:

Z. C. ROBBINS, GEORGE A. C. SMITH.

